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Note by the Admiralty War Staff, showing the strength of French, Italian and Austrian Fleets in the Adriatic. [Typescript].

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Letter from Sir Ronald Graham, British Ambassador, Rome, to WSC, on his visit to Rome and meeting with Mussolini.

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Letter from WSC to Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, on his arrangements for cruise with the Med. Fleet, also on his proposed visit to Rome and meeting with Mussolini [carbon].

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Letter from David Lloyd George (Bron-y-de, Churt, Surrey) to WSC justifying his article in the Daily Express which commented unfavourably on Italian attitudes to the war and dismissing WSC's criticism.

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Letter from WSC to David Lloyd George expressing Cabinet concern about an article by him, providing an account of what WSC believed happened at Caporetto [Italy], and explaining that apologies had been conveyed to the Italian government. [carbon and draft].

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Telegram from Foreign Office to Sir Percy Loraine [British Ambassador to Italy] requiring him to apologise to Count [Galeazzo] Ciano [Italian Foreign Minister] on behalf of HM Government for the views expressed by David Lloyd George in a Daily Express article, and disassociating the British Government from any opinions voiced by the British press. [carbon].

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Letter from WSC to [Alfred] Duff Cooper [Minister of Information, later 1st Lord Norwich] disagreeing with his opinions about the defeat of the Italian Army at Caporetto [Italy, 1917]. [Copy and carbon, with envelope].

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Letter from Admiral [Sir Roger] Keyes to WSC on plans to make a show of strength which would deter [Benito] Mussolini, asking to be allowed to act as quickly as possible.

Scope and Contents First Lord of the Admiralty's printed minutes, October 1939.Includes texts of minutes from WSC (sometimes annotated with additional printed information) to: various naval directors; Deputy Chief of Naval Staff [Rear-Admiral Tom Phillips]; the Sea Lords, particularly 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound] and [3rd Sea Lord and] Controller [Rear-Admiral Bruce Fraser]; [Permanent] Secretary [Sir Archibald Carter]; other senior officers and civil servants.Subjects covered by the...

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Copy of a minute from WSC to Sir Otto Niemeyer [Controller of Finance] on war reparations and the payment of war debts to the United States. WSC feels that there is a good prospect of obtaining reparations from Europe, including 25 million pounds a year from Germany, and that they should wait for proposals from France and Italy. He advocates an open statement that all previous offers have lapsed.

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Letter from George Trevelyan (Rome [Italy]) to Francis Acland [Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs] on Italy and the Balkans, including the views of Sir [James] Rennell Rodd [British Ambassador to Italy] on the chances of Italy going to war, the advantages of bringing in Italy and Romania as allies, the harshness of Austro-Hungarian rule in the Balkans and the necessity of keeping Serbia supplied with ammunition. Includes forwarding note from WSC. [Typescript copy].

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Letter from Patrick Hannon, General Secretary of the Navy League to Edward Marsh, Private Secretary to WSC, sending a copy of his reply to a question from the Giornale d'Italia on the armed intervention of Italy in the war.

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Letter from WSC to Count Carlo Sforza [Leader of Free Italians] regretting that he was unable to arrange a meeting whilst in New York [United States].

Scope and Contents Letter from WSC to President [Franklin Roosevelt] outlining various plans and proposals concerning: attacking the German and Italian armies in Libya; French North Africa; Norway; British contributions to the Soviet war effort; defending Great Britain from a possible German invasion; placing United States forces in Northern Ireland [Ulster]; the command structure in the Middle East and the roles of the Air Force and Navy; the effect of victory in Libya on Italy and Turkey; landing tanks; the...

Scope and Contents Letter from WSC [to King George VI] requesting permission to visit President [Franklin] Roosevelt in Washington [United States], with the 1st Sea Lord [Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound] and the Chief of Air Staff [Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal], whilst Anthony Eden [later 1st Lord Avon, Foreign Secretary] is in Moscow [Soviet Union] visiting Marshal Stalin; adds in post script that he will delay the journey until Germany and Italy declare their intentions towards the United States....

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Letter from R Noel Cripps to 1st Lord Beaverbrook [Minister of State, earlier Max Aitken] urging a bombing campaign to destroy Italian communications; details which power stations and railway lines to target, possibly using fifth columnists; refers to dynamite laid in La Poretta tunnel by Captain Piercy in 1935 which was never detonated; includes filing note. [Typescript copy].

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Telegram from Lord Halifax [earlier Edward Wood and Lord Irwin, British Ambassador to the United States] (Washington) to WSC on Count [Carlo] Sforza's suggestion that Britain should offer to evacuate Italian women and children from Ethiopia [Abyssinia], thus gaining international admiration and undermining Benito Mussolini's propaganda. [see CHAR 20/37/38 for President Franklin Roosevelt's comments].

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Telegram from President [Franklin] Roosevelt to "the Former Naval Person" [WSC] on Count Carlo Sforza's suggestion for the evacuation of Italian women and children from Ethiopia [Abyssinia]. [see also CHAR 20/37/31 and CHAR 20/37/41-42 for WSC's reply].

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Telegram from "Former Naval Person" [WSC] to President [Franklin Roosevelt] on the impossibility of Count [Carlo] Sforza's suggestion about Italian evacuation. [for Roosevelt's telegram see.

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Telegram from Koryzis [President of the Council, Athens, Greece] to WSC with congratulations on the Royal Navy's success against the Italian fleet. [in French].

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Cutting from the Italian newspaper Messagero, including an interview with Guglielmo Marconi by Rino Alessi, on support for Britain and France in Italy, and how and when Italy could cancel its declaration of neutrality.

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Minute from Prince Louis of Battenberg [1st Sea Lord, later 1st Lord Milford Haven] to WSC, First Lord of the Admiralty, on observing the Italian declaration of neutrality. Includes reply by WSC. [Typescript copy].

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Cabinet Paper by Rear-Admiral Ernest Troubridge [Chief of the War Staff, Admiralty] on Italian occupation of the Aegean Islands and its effect on naval policy. [Printed].

Scope and Contents Letter from Admiral of the Fleet 1st Lord Fisher, (Hotel Excelsior, Naples [Italy]) to WSC [First Lord of the Admiralty] on the departure of 15,000 Italian troops to Tripoli [? Libya]: Fisher comments that no Italian newspapers had "given the show away" and wonders if British newspapers would do the same. He asks WSC if he could trust Ralph Blumenfeld, Editor of the Daily Express, H A Gwynne, Editor of the Morning Post, or Leslie Cornford of the Standard, suggesting that if war broke out,...

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Letter from Guglielmo Marconi (Grand Hotel, Rome) to WSC, praising his remarks to the Giornale d'Italia on Italy and the international situation. Marconi emphasises the friendship for Britain and France in Italy, commenting that German and Austrian flags could not be shown in any part of the country.